What happened to Derek Lowe?

In the offseason of 2009, the Atlanta Braves signed Derek Lowe to a four-year, $60 million dollar contract. Lowe was one of the most accomplished pitchers in baseball. He was the man who broke the curse of the Bambino, he threw the first no-no in Fenway since 1965, and in his four previous years, his ERA never climbed above four.

Since 2005, the only National League pitcher to win more games than Lowe is Roy Oswalt.

That was the old Derek Lowe.

Preface: This article is not just the best players at each position, no matter the circumstances (payroll, player preferences, owners, etc). The criteria used for the article includes all of the before mentioned attributes and they are factored in to each position.

The 2010 season is over for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Faithful fans are still watching, but the Boys in Blue are really only mathematically in it, not realistically.

Four starts into his major league career, Tampa Bay Rays’ righty Jeremy Hellickson has opened up eyes amongst fans and the opponents he has faced. In four starts, Hellickson is 3-0 with a sweet 2.05 ERA and an even sweeter 0.76 WHIP.

It wasn’t a good day for a few of the better starters in the league.  Let’s take a look at their struggles, plus all the other noteworthy performances from yesterday’s games—

American League—

Whether you are fighting to make the playoffs or sitting atop the standings, it is always good to know a few quiet players making a little noise this year. These guys will help your team down the road and get you that extra stat here and there to bolster your starting lineup come playoff time. After each name is the player’s team, position, and percent owned in CBS Fantasy Baseball leagues to help you go right to the waiver wire and snatch these diamonds in the rough.

I'd like you to think back about seven years ago, remember when everyone was hailing Alex Rodriguez as the modern hero of baseball.

Having finished the 2003 season with the Texas Rangers, everything was perfect in Rodriguez's world; he was 28, had just collected his first of seemingly many MVPs and had become the youngest player in history to hit 300 home runs.

Assuming that everything that owner Tom Ricketts has told us is true, and Jim Hendry really will be leading the search for the next Cubs manager to replace the retiring (retired?) Lou Piniella, do not believe that former Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg is a lock to be the man.

In fact, if you read into the tea leaves, Hendry doesn't feel that Ryno is ready to be a major league manager and instead would prefer one with previous major league experience.

PITTSBURGH—Finally, the Mets found the right team to score plenty of runs against. It took a trip to Pittsburgh for the Mets to feel good about themselves offensively, as they jumped all over Jeff Karstens in 3.1 innings.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel called the Mets offense "pathetic" after last night's loss to the Astros. He changed things up tonight, batting Chris Carter cleanup, and it paid off for the Mets and Carter.

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chan-Ho Park has been their most inconsistent pitcher so far of the year, posting a 10.80 ERA in five games for the Bucs.

Before he was claimed by the team, he was pitching with an ERA of 5.60 with the New York Yankees.

Manager John Russell and his team hoped that the veteran could turn things around and be effective out of the bullpen like he was when Park was with the NL Pennant winning Philadelphia Philles.